Saint Question?

[robotneil]

Being a former Southern Baptist, I know that they believe that we are all living Saints...

What is the Catholic take on this matter?

Thank You,
Neil

 

[JJM]

If I understand correctly we are as long as we remain in a state of Grace. But we are anywhere near obtaining neither the perfect state nor the closeness to God of someone in heaven.

 

[Isaiah 53]

It depends upon the terminology. A cannonized Saint differs from the Southern Baptist definition of Saint. Is it saint or Saint?

PAX CHRISTI

 

[robotneil]

It depends upon the terminology. A cannonized Saint differs from the Southern Baptist definition of Saint. Is it saint or Saint?

PAX CHRISTI

Good point, I believe it is saint, living saint to be exact. They use scripture to back thier statements.

 

[Carrye]

It depends upon the terminology. A cannonized Saint differs from the Southern Baptist definition of Saint. Is it saint or Saint?

Right.

Saints - those canonized by the Church. Canonization means that the Church is certain that the person is in Heaven. There is a process by which this is determined.

saints - those members of the faithful who are living on earth. You will rarely hear this talked about in Catholic circles, because we don't see ourselves as currently saved, and see Sainthood as something to be fought for. 1 Tim 6:12

 

[robotneil]

Right.

Saints - those canonized by the Church. Canonization means that the Church is certain that the person is in Heaven. There is a process by which this is determined.

saints - those members of the faithful who are living on earth. You will rarely hear this talked about in Catholic circles, because we don't see ourselves as currently saved, and see Sainthood as something to be fought for. 1 Tim 6:12

Why are catholics not saved? How can anyone ever be assured of thier salvation then?

 

[ps139]

I do not think the Baptists make any distinction between the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant.

 

[Carrye]

Why are catholics not saved? How can anyone ever be assured of thier salvation then?

People shouldn't be assured of their own personal salvation until they die and the Lord welcomes him/her into the Heavenly Kingdom. Salvation is threefold: past, present, and future.

So a Catholic would say that: I have been saved by the blood of Christ, I am being saved by my divinization (through the sacraments), and I hope to be saved at my individual judgment.

The profession is in three things:
- Jesus Christ and His cross
- that I work out my salvation with fear and trembling, running the race to the finish
- that I am hopeful to finally be eternally saved

All are the graces and mechanisms are in place for my salvation, but my response is key. And my response is a life-long one.

 

[JJM]

Why are catholics not saved? How can anyone ever be assured of thier salvation then?

no one can be assured that is the point.

 

[HisLittleOne]

Saints are those who have died and are now in heaven. Canonized Saints are those that are recognized by the Church as being in heaven. We're not saints until we get to heaven... meanwhile on earth we just keep striving to get there.

(Correct me if I'm wrong!)

 

[Seek Ye First]

Being a former Southern Baptist, I know that they believe that we are all living Saints...

What is the Catholic take on this matter?

Thank You,
Neil

I believe we can be saints, if it is God's intention.

A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying Him. It "consents" so to speak, to His creative Love. It is expressing an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree.
The more a tree is like itself, the more it is like Him. If it tried to be like something else which it was never intended to be, it would be less like God and therefore it would give Him less Glory.
Do you see where Im coming from?
You might ask, What about you? What about me?

Unlike the animals and the trees, it is not enough for us to be what our nature intends. It is not enough for us to be individual men. For us, holiness is more than humanity. If we are never anything but men, never anything but people, we will not be Saints and we will not be able to offer to God the worship of our imitation, which is sanctity.
It is true to say that for me sanctity consists in being myself and for you sanctity consists in being yourself and that, in the last analysis, your sactity will never be mine and mine will never be yours, except in the communionism of charity and grace.

For me to be a Saint means to be myself. Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self.
Trees and animals have no problem. God makes them what they are without consulting them, and they are perfectly satisfied.
With us it is different. God leaves us free to be whatever we like. We can be ourselves or not as we please. We are at liberty to be real, or to be unreal. We may be true or false, the choice is yours. We may wear now one mask and now another, and never, if we so desire, appear with our own true face. But we cannot make these choices with impunity. Causes have effects, and if we lie to ourselves and others, then we cannot expect to find truth and reality whenever we happen to want them. If we have chosen the way of falsity we must not be surprised that truth eludes us when we finally come to need it!

I hope I didnt over elaborate Friend

 

[JJM]

Saints are those who have died and are now in heaven. Canonized Saints are those that are recognized by the Church as being in heaven. We're not saints until we get to heaven... meanwhile on earth we just keep striving to get there.

(Correct me if I'm wrong!)

CCC 823 "The Church . . . is held, as a matter of faith, to be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as 'alone holy,' loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her; he joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God."289 The Church, then, is "the holy People of God,"290 and her members are called "saints."291

 

[ps139]

Again, it depends how you define saint....
Saint means "holy," and "sanctification" comes from the same word as "saint."

In fact, if these two words had come into English in a more consistent manner I believe "sanctification" might be more like "saintification"
This all implies a process of growing holier, until we are finally 100% purified of all sin and can enter the Kingdom.

When people get confused it can be dangerous. There was a woman on CF a year ago, from a Protestant church, who literally believed that since she was "saved" and since she was a "Saint,' that part of her was already physically in Heaven, and she (the poster) was more like her 'earth consciousness' who knew that part of her was in Heaven but could not perceive anything from heaven, it is as if her soul was split in too. I really felt sorry for her because she took this misunderstanting of "Saint' to the extreme degree, and deluded herself. This is why correct doctrine is so important, people can take one seemingly small error to great and dangerous extremes.